Nike Alters Texas Football Practice Uniforms. They’re….Interesting
Nike has worked for years to clamp their uniform-altering tentacles into Texas and though the prototypes below won’t be worn in games, the Swoosh has successfully desecrated 40 Acres practices.
By way of the Twitter feed @UTexasEquipment, we’re allowed a glance at the duds Longhorn players will begin wearing next fall during Training Camp.
Cynics like me aren’t the target audience so my mock indignation is meaningless. 18 year-old recruits see Oregon on television and sign with the school because of their gear. That’s probably not the wisest route to a college decision but recruiting is a game of impressions. Rich alums with their names on campus buildings like the white-on-white road uniforms. African-American football players from inner-city schools may not share that view with the same vigor.
Give the Texas athletic department credit for finding a compromise with tradition and utilizing the recruiting opportunity by using them in practice.
Let’s get to the pictures, starting with the color that’s mentioned ad nauseam. Black. Well, it’s here. Mack Brown had better pray David Cutcliffe and Duke aren’t ever a fill-in scrimmage because the last time a Texas team wore black, the Blue Devils embarrassed the Longhorns on the hardwood.
The orange jerseys are a little more manageable. White on the shoulders seems overkill but, “hey, we’re Nike, throw sh*t at the wall and see if it sticks!”
The “4″ on the chest looks off-centered. Throw them in the trash, immediately.
Orange pants to brighten your day. These look to be the target size of a 14 year-old. Or in Mack Brown’s terms, a “great kid, from a great family with a great future ahead of him. He’ll graduate.”
Black pants. I’m not gifted with the eyes but it appears the state flag of Texas is black and orange rather than blue and red. Freedom ain’t free, fellas. Want to paint the Alamo pink?
Each jersey collar includes the seminal Longhorn phrase, “Eyes of Texas.” Here, running shoe overlords, you have succeeded.
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